Vetinary Fees

KxMx

adonis wrote: »

I have never had pet insurance and had to have a £1200 operation on one cat to remove something he swallowed, fortunately I had the money to pay for it.

I am still not getting insurance because the excess is £100 + 10 percent of the cost of treatment, so by the time the yearly premium is taken into account which goes up every year it would have cost me £320 not including insurance for the other cat.

How many times do you go to the vets and it is less than the £100 excess, quite a few I would imagine.
Also I noticed on older cats the 10 percent goes up to 35 percent so if you have insurance because you cannot afford vets fees you may still get hit for hundreds of pounds.

Not all policies have an excess as high as £100. And not all charge a % of Vet's fees on top.

For my cat I pay a little over a tenner a month and for that I get 7k cover per condition, per year. £50 excess. No % of Vets fees on top.

My premiums went up £1.04 per month last renewal. My cat is 8 this year so I expect a bigger rise. Which I will gladly pay.

I do not have the cheapest policy either!

Multiple lots of £49 would not be a problem for me. Multiple lots in the 1000s certainly would. That is why I have insurance, excesses are common in the insurance world and people know this.

I think you have looked at one expensive policy and used that as an example to tar all insurance with the same brush. Using your criteria a £1200 op would have cost me around £70 with my insurance and I would be able to afford it- not so £1200.

Cannot comment on Vet fees in general, our vets is very very good and not money driven at all. Outside annual jabs and neutering, took her in once for fleas. No consultation charge, just paid for the drops. Which they run regular offers on (buy 6 months get 2 months free, buy 3 months 1 month free) and will tell you when they are coming up so you can save money, Last time I went in for 6months worth I was told about the promo starting the following month, sold one pipette for that month, so I could go back and take advantage of the offer.

I probably could get them a little cheaper online but I am more than happy to support the Practice and buy from them direct.

Also when I asked about additional worming protection I was under no pressure to buy from them or even accept their recommendation.

lostinrates

bips86 wrote: »

RE Variability of prices between vets - often you do get what you pay for and there's nobody trying to "rip you off". I am soon to qualify as a vet and therefore have worked in many many different practices and seen the variability in standard of care. For example - your cat when under anaesthesia may be monitored constantly, with lots of machines and someone ready to act as soon as something changes. Or the nurse may be looking after the cat and still be expected to answer the phone, quickly check on another patient etc etc. Your cat may have an expensive and time consuming catheter (cannula in people) put into its vein so they can put fluids in immediately if blood pressure drops or worst case scenario, the cat crashes and emergency drugs can be used immediately. You can quite safely anaesthetise animals without these however, but things like this may be the reason the price is higher. Also a "dental" is a hugely variable procedure - one cat may just need a quick scale and polish, whereas there may be several teeth needing surgical extractions - which can take several hours. Its often not possible to tell until the cat is anaesthetised and can be examined properly - especially the teeth at the back!

I just swapped small animal practises to a referral vet i went to with one of my ( uninsured) dogs two years in a row. The one I have gone to is better staffed, offers extras like free puppy parties, the receptionists remember the name and sex of my dog ( the last place we were we we're going twice a week and the receptionist asked both times every week, how is he, about my girl....it's not really an issue).


It's also cheaper in some key areas for me. It's very obviously better skewed for clients in the importance of service versus profit that our previous vet.


I have no issue with vets making good profits. But I do find thing like changing £25 for a prescription for an ongoing treatment available on line with a script for under three pounds to be grasping, and while I believe there is a price for urgency for things th are needed immediately I find charging huge multiples of cost for ongoings drugs to be unpalatable. Similarly, a friend of mine recently changed vets ( independant practise to independant practise) and was charged over four times the amount for a complication free proceedure.


Our horse vets are mobile, and hugely supportive. Again coming in well priced for many things, but also working brilliantly with other professionals. We have a horse who is on her way 'out' ATM and the care and help and support I have received is outstandingly good.

That I find when checking that they remain competitive ( I have to as they see clients' horses, not just my own) is a huge bonus. These people see so many clients and yet when they visit have taken the time to look at files ( though it seems like memory) to ask how others they have seen are doing.

Overpriced vets can contribute to dubious welfare choices, ones who are good, including on pricing, often improve the welfare of their clients' animals in more ways than treating the ailment for which the animal is brought in.

krlyr

I think the issue is you get overpriced vets with good service, underpriced or competitive priced vets with good service, overpriced vets with bad service and under/competitive priced vets with bad service. Expensive doesn't equal good, good doesn't equal expensive, and you even get good and bad vets within one practice (99% of the time my vets are fab but there are one or two vets within the practice I will avoid like the plague unless it's urgent - and then I know I have a fight on my hands to get them to listen to my opinion) or a vet having a bad day (one of the best vets at my practice is the head surgeon - I'm sure he probably has nightmare days with long or complex ops or a bad neglect case/horrific RTA/etc. that probably puts him off his game).

So we can't say all expensive vets are ripping us off, though equally we can't say all decent vets must charge more than others, or that all cheap vets are bad. It has to be looked at on an individual basis - for example, I know for a starter that my pets' treatments will all sound on the high side if we compare because I'm in Surrey - I'm sure the prices would nearly halve in a different area of the country.

Shop around, do your research, and remember that you are the customer - you're entitled to query a price. But also stop to think why your vet might be charging that much (or even ask them to explain it themselves! Mine have happily explained price policies before) before accusing them of ripping you off. Your expensive prescription fee may seem extortionate but has the vet charged you a consult to write that prescription? Mine don't, so I feel the £12 fee is more than reasonable considering a consult is about £30. To book an appointment with a private GP to simply get a prescription written out would cost you more than £12, probably more than £25, I'd imagine! And perhaps, with more and more people deciding to order online prescriptions, it's making more work for the vet (who cannot just nod and write a prescription - he's required to make sure the pet is healthy enough for the medication) and they're also losing out on the profit that they'd make from the medication themselves (yes, vets do sell things to make a profit - I think they're perfectly entitled to, otherwise how else would they stay in business to continue to provide the service?) so having to make it up in other ways. Yes, your medication may only cost £3 with a 40p profit margin on it, but what about the next customer ordering £100 of medication with a £10 profit margin on it? Do they start charging prescription fees by cost of medication? That'd mean even more work, looking up how much it cost (do they go by their supplier cost or the cheapest cost online?) before working out what to charge, so they'd probably have to add on to the figure to make up for the extra work too!

lostinrates

krlyr wrote: »

I think the issue is you get overpriced vets with good service, underpriced or competitive priced vets with good service, overpriced vets with bad service and under/competitive priced vets with bad service. Expensive doesn't equal good, good doesn't equal expensive, and you even get good and bad vets within one practice (99% of the time my vets are fab but there are one or two vets within the practice I will avoid like the plague unless it's urgent - and then I know I have a fight on my hands to get them to listen to my opinion) or a vet having a bad day (one of the best vets at my practice is the head surgeon - I'm sure he probably has nightmare days with long or complex ops or a bad neglect case/horrific RTA/etc. that probably puts him off his game).

So we can't say all expensive vets are ripping us off, though equally we can't say all decent vets must charge more than others, or that all cheap vets are bad. It has to be looked at on an individual basis - for example, I know for a starter that my pets' treatments will all sound on the high side if we compare because I'm in Surrey - I'm sure the prices would nearly halve in a different area of the country.

Shop around, do your research, and remember that you are the customer - you're entitled to query a price. But also stop to think why your vet might be charging that much (or even ask them to explain it themselves! Mine have happily explained price policies before) before accusing them of ripping you off. Your expensive prescription fee may seem extortionate but has the vet charged you a consult to write that prescription? Mine don't, so I feel the £12 fee is more than reasonable considering a consult is about £30. To book an appointment with a private GP to simply get a prescription written out would cost you more than £12, probably more than £25, I'd imagine! And perhaps, with more and more people deciding to order online prescriptions, it's making more work for the vet (who cannot just nod and write a prescription - he's required to make sure the pet is healthy enough for the medication) and they're also losing out on the profit that they'd make from the medication themselves (yes, vets do sell things to make a profit - I think they're perfectly entitled to, otherwise how else would they stay in business to continue to provide the service?) so having to make it up in other ways. Yes, your medication may only cost £3 with a 40p profit margin on it, but what about the next customer ordering £100 of medication with a £10 profit margin on it? Do they start charging prescription fees by cost of medication? That'd mean even more work, looking up how much it cost (do they go by their supplier cost or the cheapest cost online?) before working out what to charge, so they'd probably have to add on to the figure to make up for the extra work too!

Krlyr

I am perfectly happy to pay a consult fee for a prescription valid for six months if it works out as a saving, or to pay a reasonable amount (allowing for profit) to keep buying my drugs through the vet and give him the profits.

I personally, really do understand some of the issues quite well, I taught a particular aspect of care at a vet school and have been employed by vets in the past! And yes, there re good and bad ones at all price points. But that is rather the point.....

krlyr

I agree - my post wasn't really aimed at you in particular, just input on the subject/thread as whole

Tsujima

Toothsmith wrote: »

It is not THE LAW that you have a pet. You have chosen to have one.

If you can't afford vet fees - then THINK OF THE WELFARE OF THE ANIMAL and don't have a pet.

Just give a bit of money to animal charities instead.

This. Why would you even consider having a pet if you're going to struggle to look after it..?

bethie

i think that by having the NHS people are a bit immune to how much health care (for both pets and animals!) actually costs.


£200 doesn't sound like much for an anesthetic, dental, descale, polish etc etc.


It's far to easy to cry 'the vets are sooo expensive they only do it for the money!' when actually they do it because they love animals. The prices are rising because us, the clients, are expecting more and more diagnostic equipment and quick results, leading to more and more expensive machines and testing.


20 years ago I can't image they did very many dental descales and polishes on cats, but I do think that cats today have a much better, pearly white smile than they used too! (and a healthier mouth obviously!)


and for what is is worth, my three are all insured and all have preventative care to hopefully avoid having to claim on insurance.